Substance use and substance abuse among street children in the city of Yaounde, Cameroon

Abstract

Background: Substance use is known to be more common among street children. Sometimes responsible for the runaway and repeated run-away behavior. To be able to reinsert these children, the reasons why there joined the streets, why they use substance and their pattern of substance use need to be understood.Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in February 2021 in the streets of Yaounde. We did a semi-structured interview of 159 street children using a sociodemographic questionnaire made of open questions and, the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test, version 3.0. The data were analyzed using R 4.1.0 for Windows.Results: All street children were male. The most common reason for joining the streets was, questing for money, reported by one-quarter of the children. Since their arrival in the streets, 60% of them ever used a substance, of which half used a substance because of peer pressure. The most commonly used substance was cannabis (36.48%), followed by Tobacco (35.85%). 14.47% and 11.32% were high risktobacco and cannabis users respectively. Conclusion: Substance use and risky substance use suggestive of substance use disorders are highly common among street children of Yaounde. This needs to be addressed to facilitate their reinsertion as shown in other studies. The mechanisms that lead to the absences of girls in the streets should also be explored to see if they can be applied to boys.

Prevalence Of Substance Use and Related Behaviors Among Tertiary Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Yaoundé, Cameroon

“…In Africa, it was estimated that 8.4% of people aged 15 and 64 engaged in drug use in 2017 [8]. Furthermore, the projected total number of drug users on the continent is expected to increase by 38% between 2018 and 2030 [9].…”